According to Forbes, nearly 97% of recruiters use LinkedIn as a part of their recruiting process. So I am guessing that many recruiters have fallen into recruiting routines. If one of those recruiting routines is to blast large numbers of LinkedIn members with InMail, get ready for a change. One that I heard recently was to InMail all those that meet the criteria set for a LinkedIn search, wait 5 days then InMail again. If still no response, then try a Google search to find phone or mail contact details and reach the candidate via those connection points. That is one recruiting process; I’m sure you know of 50 more.
LinkedIn is always on the move and making changes and improvements to the way LinkedIn works. Effective August 2014, they will notify LinkedIn Recruiter users if InMail response rates drop below 13 percent on 100 or more InMails sent over a 14-day period. So some of these old recruiting routines may need to change. As a recruiter, it is frustrating to know that those users listing themselves as “open to opportunities” are not also being measured. I often think that only a small percentage of those saying “open to opportunities” are truly open to contact via LinkedIn. I was one of those “interested” parties and I got so many invites to “sell insurance” or “work from home” that I changed my profile.
Users continuing to have a less than 13 percent response rate will be restricted to one-to-one InMails for a 14-day period. No more mass mailing or distributions. Not a bad concept…perhaps recruiting messages will become more personal and attractive to the candidates. If you get your percentages up, you will be able to send bulk InMail messages once again. If not, another 14-day period of one-to-one only awaits. LinkedIn wants recruiters to turn around their poor response rates. Whenever I write an InMail, I try to make it feel one-to-one even if it is not. That is just good business and a recruiting process best practice.
Is this change likely to change what you do? Have you been contacted by LinkedIn on this issue yet? How have you increased your response rates? Do you think LinkedIn should make users who never reply to InMails change their preferences to reflect reality? Comment below!
